Helping patients starts with supporting each other

Rhea joined Nuffield Health as a band five [scrub] in our Orthopaedic team in Bristol. She’s now our Senior Orthopaedic Lead, working with a highly skilled team to help patients through a huge range of circumstances. Helping patients is what she enjoys about the role, and it was a big reason she joined in the first place:

“I really enjoyed just looking after people and fixing things. I did some research and Nuffield Health seemed like they were one of the best healthcare providers in the area, so I went for it. I got the job and here I am.”

Rhea hit the ground running and was promoted to Senior Orthopaedic Lead, which even surprised her a little bit.

“I think a proud moment for me is when I got the Orthopaedic Lead role. I just didn’t think I’d get it. So when my manager told me I got the job, it was kind of the moment where I felt like I'd made it in a sense, because I was such a young age as well. It's quite a lot of pressure and quite a lot of responsibility.”

But helping patients isn’t always easy. Rhea’s role means she has a lot of responsibility, which the pandemic has only increased. How does she balance everything? For Rhea, it’s all down to her incredible team.

“I don't think I could do this job without my team to be honest. They're so helpful, like a little family really, and they're really supportive. We just help each other a lot. And I think that's the most important thing with theatre because you work in teams a lot.”

“My colleagues are very happy all the time even though there is always a lot of pressure. And sometimes people are tired, but they're all still really nice, really helpful, encouraging with everything and supportive.”

That colleague support is built into Nuffield Health’s culture at every level. Even when Rhea was stuck abroad due to the pandemic after a holiday last year, her manager was constantly in touch, checking she was alright and ensuring she would be back safely. There is an emphasis on making sure everyone feels valued. Rhea told us about a memory that represents her time with Nuffield Health so far: 

“We did the ODP day which was really nice because the hospital celebrated it with us. ODP is still not very well known as a career so the fact that they highlighted it and recognised us was really fulfilling.”